this was the subject of a very lively discussion on BGT's facebook page (some of the most condemnatory posts seem to have been removed), but am surprised it hasn't hit jclist yet

as I was walking my dog last week on 2nd street, I saw a large professionally printed banner on the Latin Lounge building, took a picture of it but don't know how to upload it here. this is what it said:

"Peace and Prosperity Returns to the Village,Latin Lounge closed!Brought to you by BGT Enterprises"

clearly someone at BGT gave enough thought about this to spend money to have it printed up and hung, but not enough thought about how it was going to be look to a lot of people. Racist? Smug? Weird?

I only went into Latin Lounge a few times, and found it to be a fun, normal bar. Though I can understand not wanting to live next to any kind of bar, there were no celebratory banners posted when the Lamp Post across the street from Latin Lounge closed down. I was really shocked to see it.

BGT apologized after getting hammered on facebook and took the banner down.

Not sure what is going to replace the Latin Lounge, but probably a large apartment building, since that's what's becoming the norm in the Village.

It was really crowded, and there were lines, but if you got there early, like my friends and I did, then there was a lot of great food. And clearly the turnout shows that there is a huge interest in having a low-cost, fun gathering place.

Even when we were on line the atmosphere was still fun, with lots of conversations and music that wasn't too loud.

This is an incredibly promising enterprise, and all of the problems seem very solvable. The organizers just need to allow for many more thousands of people, and the food vendors need to figure out how to serve quickly and at high volume.

I am really looking forward to the next one - it should be even better.

Tino wrote:The developers presented on this project at the Village Neighborhood Association a few months back and while the lawyer for the developer was obnoxious and rather douchy, the reaction from the people who live across the street from the property was so over-the-top, so NIMBY, so embarrassing, there is no way to take the opposition to this project seriously.

So: douchy on one side trumps embarrassing on the other side?

Did any of the sides make any valid or convincing factual arguments at the meeting? I wasn't there, so I can't evaluate the level of embarrassment versus douchyness, but in most cases I find I am generally anti-douche.

yeah, from what I understand, they can give height variances if they fit with the character of the neighborhood, and now that the character of the neighborhood has changed...why would any future developer pass up the opportunity to maximize their profit?

My understanding is that variances are granted when there are real physical problems with the development, so I think a variance for providing 50 parking spaces on that triangular piece of land is probably legitimate. Though I have to wonder where everyone is going to park, and there will be dozens of people moving into this building who will have cars.

But you can't ask for a variance just because you want to make more money.

And I don't think that the city should be in the business of giving out extra floors just for because the building looks nice. It might have looked even nicer at 12 stories!

I moved to the Village because it was a funky, interesting neighborhood, with a great mix of people who actually talk to each other, not the kind of alienating existence that people lead in huge tall buildings -- and I used to be one of them.

The one thing I don't really like is that it can be tough to find a parking space, and if a whole lot more people move in, I hope they don't bring too many cars with them.

I am happy to show up at the meeting tomorrow -- where exactly is it? -- though I am not sure what I can bring to the discussion other than an antipathy towards the idea of this building.